Children create fantasy urban gardens in new exhibit at Missouri Botanical Garden

Imagine your dream urban garden. What are you growing there? What have you planted for your neighbors to enjoy?

The Missouri Botanical Garden set children from around St. Louis to this task for a new exhibit at the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum. A diverse ecosystem of fantasy student gardens are planted on walls and in display cases.

Dawn Lynn teaches art at Willow Brook Elementary in the Pattonville School District and participated in the project this year. In the beginning, some of her students didn’t quite take to the assignment; one snarkily decided to create an eyeball tree.

“I think at first he was just trying to be gross,” Lynn said. “But I shared with him that Salvador Dalí's work wasn't necessarily aesthetically beautiful, but it was thought provoking. And so that's where his work took off.”